Inagural Johnny Cash Music Festival To Hit Arkansas

Posted by Kersty Boll on 04/18/2011
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Johnny-Cash

George Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Daily & Vincent, Gary Morris, Rodney Crowell, Chelsea Crowell, Rosanne Cash, John Carter and Laura Cash and Tommy Cash will perform at the first ever Johnny Cash Music Festival Concert at Arkansas State University on August 4, 2011.
 
Cash’s family is currently working with the institution to make the concert an annual event in order to raise funds for the restoration of Johnny Cash's boyhood home in Dyess, Ark., which fell into possession of the school. Funds will also go toward the establishment of the Johnny Cash Boyhood Museum in the New Deal Era Administration Building at Dyess.
 
"The Johnny Cash Music Festival will not be just a concert, but an opportunity to preserve the legacy of an internationally recognized legend," Arkansas Heritage Sites and Arkansas Delta Byways director Dr. Ruth Hawkins said. "We are proud that Johnny Cash is from Arkansas and that growing up here had an impact on his music. It is time that we pay permanent tribute to his memory, and we are especially grateful to the Cash family for their involvement and support in this endeavor."
 
The event’s performers are charging only expenses for the inaugural festival, agreeing to donate their time free of charge. More performers are expected to be announced in coming months.
 
Cash moved to Dyess at the three with his parents Ray and Carrie Cash. The family was among the first five colonist recruited from Cleveland County, Ark. Johnny remained in Dyess until his high school graduation in 1950. His childhood home is one of the only former agricultural resettlement colony homes still in existence.
 
Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe named August 4 Johnny Cash Day.
 
Source: The Boot